December 17, 2010 - The King County Board of Health passed a controversial proposal Thursday, December 16th that bans the public use of electronic cigarettes, despite protests that the battery-powered, nicotine-delivery sticks emit no second-hand smoke and are often used for harm reduction.

Harm reduction - The original intent of harm reduction tobacco products was for use specifically by the pool of inveterate (hard-nosed, long established, deep-rooted) cigarette smokers (approximately 30 percent of smokers) that refuse to consider trying to quit smoking tobacco. For example, supporters of harm reduction such as Brad Rodu, DDS and William T. Godshall, MPH authored a paper in the December 2006 issue of the Harm Reduction Journal entitled, "Tobacco Harm Reduction: An Alternate Cessation Strategy for Inveterate Smokers," and Dr. Coral Gartner and colleagues paper in the June 16, 2007 issue of The Lancet concluded that SNUS could produce a net health benefit in inveterate smokers.

But it would be impossible to limit distribution of harm reduction tobacco products to only inveterate tobacco smokers. As pointed out by John Britton, MD, Chair of the Royal Royal College of Physicians, Tobacco Advisory Group, a proponent of the use of harm reduction therapy, "It's tobacco companies job to sell as much tobacco as possible, so they will be targeting non-smokers rather than current ones, that's the worry."

To disguise the taste of the nicotine emitted the e-cigarette device delivers the inhaled solutions in various flavors. From Ruyan, an e-cigarettes manufacturer flavors include: regular tobacco, marlboro, mint, almond, chocolate, cherry, regular, menthol, apple and strawberry. They have surveyed a number of electronic cigarette smokers and the overwhelming favorites are menthol and, believe it or not, strawberry. More: Philip Morris - Ruyan Group - e-cigarettes..

The use of these electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) will result in our children being nicotine addicts never able to reach their full potential. Surely we want the very best for our children and would do everything in our power to stop this from happening.

The 30th Surgeon General’s report just just published, - describes specific pathways by which tobacco smoke damages the human body and leads to disease and death. The report finds that cellular damage and tissue inflammation from tobacco smoke are immediate, and that repeated exposure weakens the body’s ability to heal the damage. What do think is the main culprit is here - Nicotine.

Take a look of this figure that points out the negative, side-effects of nicotine. (Nicotine)

Click to enlarge..

The measure is not a complete ban on e-cigarettes. Rather, it prohibits e-cigarette smoking in the same places where real smoking is forbidden by the state, such as restaurants, bars and workplaces.

But the state's tobacco smoking ban, adopted in 2006, was based on the fact that second-hand smoke causes cancer and other diseases. The rationale behind King County's e-cig ban was a fear of eroding "social norms." Health officials reasoned that the fake smokes - which emit a less-smelly, combustion-free vapor - are so similar to real smokes that they may cause people to think it's OK to smoke in public. And that may lead to more nicotine addiction and second-hand smoke, officials said.

The regulation also prohibits the sale of e-cigarettes, often marketed in bright colors and fun flavors, from minors. It also bans free giveaways and heavily discounted sales of the products.

The Board easily passed those regulations, saying young people needed to be protected from the products, while the federal government figures out what to do with e-cigarettes. Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration lost a court fight to ban or regulate e-cigarettes as unapproved drug delivery devices. (Federal Court of Appeals - e-cigarettes - rules against the FDA.. )